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A man acquitted of being part of the Short North Posse but guilty of selling marijuana was sent
to jail for 90 days today in Franklin County Common Pleas court.

“You won’t see me in court again,” Ashanti Williams told Judge Richard A. Frye before he was
sentenced to jail and given a total of three years of probation in two separate
trafficking-in-marijuana cases.

Williams, 33, of 1436 Fairwood Ave., was among 19 men indicted a year ago after an 18-month
police investigation into the gang’s drug trafficking in the Weinland Park neighborhood.

Thirteen have pleaded guilty and three await trial.

Williams was tried with two other defendants in November. A jury found Merrell Middleton, 25,
and Cornelius Allen, 31, guilty of participating in a criminal gang and engaging in a pattern of
corrupt activity.

Middleton was sentenced to five years in prison and Allen to four.

Williams’ attorney Karen Phipps said her client is a volunteer Little League football coach
and provides for his 11-year-old daughter.

“He has every intention to walk the right path,” she said.

Frye also sentenced Williams to 29 months of suspended prison time, which he could order the
defendant to serve if he violates parole.